By all accounts, including my own, Justified and Sons of Anarchy had very good seasons this year. Homeland, Boss and American Horror Story looked very good, too, based on their pilot episodes.

Depending on where you live, though, chances are good you didn’t have an opportunity to see some of the best of what TV had to offer in 2011. It might be because those shows aired on a pay-TV channel so obscure, you can count on one hand – if that – the number of people you know who subscribe. Or they aired on a specialty channel that your local cable company either couldn’t or wouldn’t make available in your province. Or the province next door. Or the province next door to that.

Still, there was some fine TV that nearly everyone had access to – not all of the best shows aired on FX Canada or Super Channel.

10. Once Upon a Time (CTV, ABC). The year’s most pleasant surprise, at least in my home. A costume drama about fairy-tale characters trapped in the real world didn’t sound like my idea of happily ever after. My Sunday-night tastes run more to Dexter and Damages. I was won over, though, by its emotional charm, its elegance, the exquisite cast and the almost seamless way it wove its web of tales.

9. The Borgias (Bravo!, CTV). Who knew history could be so vulgar, over the top and downright entertaining? The Borgias were the Jersey Shore plebs of their time, an Italian dynasty of Spanish Renaissance origin who treated the papacy and the trappings of the Roman Catholic church as if they were carousing on spring break in the Hamptons. No one will confuse The Borgias with Shakespeare, or even Robert Graves. But thanks to fun-loving, high-living performances by Jeremy Irons, Holliday Grainger and a magnetic François Arnaud, and fine writing by Irish playwright and author Neil Jordan, The Borgias brought history to life.

8. Hell on Wheels (AMC). Vengeance on the small screen was big in 2011. Where Revenge – the year’s guiltiest pleasure – went for camp, however, Hell on Wheels went for cool calculation and an epic, eye-filling sweep. A tale of one man’s quest for vengeance for the rape and murder of his wife, set against the railroading of the American West in the months following the U.S. Civil War, Hell on Wheels saw its world through a sea of morally opaque mud. No white hats or black hats here, just grey. Sure, we’ve seen it all before: the conniving railroad baron, the taciturn hero, the strong-willed damsel in distress. But this was familiar storytelling writ large, on an outdoor canvas of big skies and flat prairies. Hell on Wheels was no Deadwood, but then, it wasn’t meant to be.

7. Game of Thrones (HBO). Where Hell on Wheels was pure storytelling, Game of Thrones was pure mythmaking. I prefer my costume epics rooted in history and realism – I favour The Borgias and The Tudors over Camelot and Merlin – but Game of Thrones was an astonishing achievement. What could have been an adolescent’s fantasy about castles, dragons and wolves was instead a sprawling, Shakespearean tale of noble families vying for control of a distressed kingdom. Fans of original novels are notoriously difficult to please, but dedicated followers of George R.R. Martin’s epic book series were among the show’s most ardent viewers.

6. The Walking Dead (AMC). They’re slow, they mumble and they look like hell. Your grandmother could outrun them, and yet the zombies at the heart of TV’s most addictive thriller were a constant menace. Again. The Walking Dead’s taut, slow-boiling second season burrowed deeper into its characters’ buried pasts, all the while making the zombies seem more threatening.

5. Dexter (The Movie Network). A compelling, yet very different season of a thriller that always seems to find new ways to reinvent itself. Dexter Morgan’s religious awakening – coupled with a pair of ritualistic murderers who, to put it mildly, are religious obsessives – gave the show an

added layer of moral complexity this season.

4. The Killing (AMC). Sure, the ending added new meaning to the term “cliffhanger” – not to mention “controversy” – but at its heart, The Killing was that TV rarity: a tightly wound, serialized murder mystery that, through its realism and heartbreaking performances by a talented ensemble of actors, drew us in and never let go. The Killing was one of the few TV dramas to constantly remind us and make us care about the victim, too, by showing how a teenage girl’s death can tear a family apart. The Killing was ambitious, maddening – and nearly unforgettable.

3. Modern Family (Citytv, ABC). TV’s finest, funniest comedy kept finding unique ways to turn its faux-documentary framework on its head, all the while making canny insights about everyday life and family relationships. Week in and week out, it juggled a dizzying number of characters and personal tales. And yet, everyone was a vivid character in his or her own right, even the children.

2. Friday Night Lights (Global, NBC). Stephen King, writing in Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, called Friday Night Lights “the anti-Dexter,” and he meant that in a complimentary way. To both. That was before Friday Night Lights’s Emmy-winning series finale, too. Think back on all your favourite series that had a weak ending, and you’ll appreciate just how satisfying Friday Night Lights’s swan song really was.

1. Breaking Bad (AMC). Where The Killing’s season finale left viewers feeling frustrated and Friday Night Lights ended on an elegiac note, Breaking Bad ended with one of those “say what?” moments unique to TV. The show’s best season – and that’s saying a lot – was a slow-building pressure cooker, thanks to Bryan Cranston’s Walt White going off the rails while battling both his protégé, Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman, and Giancarlo Esposito’s memorable villain, Gus Fring. Gus met his maker in a most original way. You’ve jumped at some surprises on TV, and you’ve laughed at others, but when was the last time you jumped and laughed simultaneously?

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